NSWJBD/Honest Reporting Israel Mission Days 7

Linda Galley has sent in this belated report from the NSWJBD/Honest Reporting Mission.

Today we spent a full day heading north via the Jordan Valley along the Jordanian Border. Our tour guide Elliot Chodoff a Major in the IDF reserves, also a political and military analyst, gave us a very enlightening and constructive update on the issues facing the Middle East conflict at this time. One does not understand the true reality of such assumption through media, about the day to day issues facing both sides in conflict in the middle east from a newspaper and from the comfort of a lounge chair in a country so far away. So hearing and seeing direct, during this trip was an amazing experience.

The highlight to me of the trip was the introduction to a wonderfully humble man who works his heart and soul out to save innocent children including adults caught up in the conflicts of war. His name is Dr Michael Harari. As the group attentively listened to Dr Harari speak about his day to day life as a Doctor, and the plight of the IDF bringing injured children across the Jordanian border into Israel to a make shift campsite on the Israeli side. Children, sometimes accompanied only by one other, or more often unaccompanied. To operate, heal, support, encourage and even spend endless hours and days at the bedside until the patient is well enough to return back across the border to the war zone. He, along with many other compassionate Israeli medics and volunteers are worthy of much praise. It takes a genuine heart of love and ultimate sacrifice to give such a service, especially in full knowledge of who they are looking after. One such story was a person who was brought in for medical assistance, recovered sufficiently and returned back to Jordan where his anti Semitism and hatred engrained into him remained for the Jews. It is wonderful to believe that in such a complex world. That there are still people such as Dr Harari and his team, who do what they do, because they really do care about others, even under such unimaginable circumstances.

What I saw during my time in Israel, is that Jewish people really want to live at peace with their neighbours, but a number of Israel’s neighbours are not wanting to reciprocate. Destruction is their agenda; their destruction, is NOT Israel’s agenda. As it has been said, ‘if our enemies lay down their weapons there will be no war, but if we (Israel) lay down our weapons there will be no Israel.’ As I talked with many Jewish people I did not observe a desire to destroy. This is in total concurrence with the extreme care that Israel’s armed forces (IDF) take to avoid civilian casualties. They know what it is like to be a minority and they sympathise with the plight of the generality of Palestinians who have become victims of the conflict. I found Jewish people to be a vibrant people who strongly emphasize personal responsibility and care passionately about fairness and justice. Dr Harari and his team are a standing example of Israel’s love and her committals of peace, for her neighbours. Thank you everyone for such an awesome and enlightening experience. Linda Galley.

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